Mars rover update
It is time for an update on the journeys of Curiosity and Opportunity on Mars!
First, Curiosity. Though the science team has not yet updated the rover’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter traverse map showing its travels, it appears from Curiosity’s most recent navigation camera images that the rover has moved passed the first butte that had been ahead and directly to the south in the traverse map shown in the last image of my post here. The image below the fold, cropped and reduced to show here, looks ahead to the second butte and the gap to the south. Beyond Mt Sharp can be seen rising up on the right, with the upcoming ground open and relatively smooth. The only issue will be the steepness of that terrain. Based on my previous overall look at the rover’s journey, I suspect they will contour to the left.
Meanwhile, Opportunity has moved into position directly above Lewis & Clark gap and has taken a picture looking directly down the slope. The image below shows this slope and is from the rover’s most recently released navigation camera images. I have reduced its resolution slightly to show here. They appear to be preparing to head down.
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It is time for an update on the journeys of Curiosity and Opportunity on Mars!
First, Curiosity. Though the science team has not yet updated the rover’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter traverse map showing its travels, it appears from Curiosity’s most recent navigation camera images that the rover has moved passed the first butte that had been ahead and directly to the south in the traverse map shown in the last image of my post here. The image below the fold, cropped and reduced to show here, looks ahead to the second butte and the gap to the south. Beyond Mt Sharp can be seen rising up on the right, with the upcoming ground open and relatively smooth. The only issue will be the steepness of that terrain. Based on my previous overall look at the rover’s journey, I suspect they will contour to the left.
Meanwhile, Opportunity has moved into position directly above Lewis & Clark gap and has taken a picture looking directly down the slope. The image below shows this slope and is from the rover’s most recently released navigation camera images. I have reduced its resolution slightly to show here. They appear to be preparing to head down.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I’m looking forward to them getting deeper into Endeavor crater. That will be the kind of exploration we got a taste of when Opportunity ventured part way into Victoria crater a few years back. The slope looks similar but without hard data one can’t be sure. Additionally, if I remember correctly, the path Opportunity took into and out of Victoria was almost all on solid rock, this path down into Endeavor looks to be a mix of rock outcroppings and soil. The rover likely won’t have trouble getting into the crater, but climbing back out might be an interesting task if it’s wheels slip in the soil. In either case, the trip will be well worth it and the navigators might find another path out somewhere else along the crater rim so all would not be lost even if Opportunity couldn’t get back out the same way she gets in, the thing is 14 miles across after all.